Shopping Load From England Trip!

I had a WONDERFUL trip to Manchester and London recently! And of course, no trip for me is complete without me buying things i want but don't really ever need. I mean, i can convince myself as much as i can that, yes, i do indeed need another neutral eyeshadow palette, but we all know it's not true.

I've taken photos of some of the things i bought, just to share with you.

The first two products i got where actually not bought in England itself, but in the duty-free shop in Terminal 2 of Charles De Gaulle Airport. Shah and i were waiting to board our plane to Manchester when he got bored and wandered into the shop. Honest, i initially refused to follow him, i was still sleepy and just slumped in one of the cold chairs in the waiting area. Shah came back and said the shop was having sales on After Eight, which i absolutely adore. So i followed him back into the shop and picked out the largest box of After Eights i've ever seen. Then i saw a L'oreal booth, and naturally got distracted. I don't think i've seen a drugstore brand in duty-free stores. Maybe because L'oreal is a Paris brand?

I didn't see anything i wanted from L'oreal, but i did see Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume on sale on the aisle next to L'oreal!

It was priced at 19.90 EUR, roughly about RM 80. I had loved the scent ever since my friend Che Pah wore it when we were in late teen/early 20's (she also introduced me to Salvatore Ferragamo scents back then!). I bought myself a bottle years ago for RM 90 and finished the whole bottle, so i was stoked to own this again.

I also took the time to look at the other makeup brands there. Clinique, Dior, Chanel, all the brands that i never really liked to look at since they're so expensive. As an unpaid homemaker (i accept gifts in return. loads of 'em. yes, i know i'm a lucky, lucky girl), i've happily settled for drugstore/pharmacy and high street makeup brands, really. But one thing i like to do here in Paris is compare prices, so that was what i did. When Shah got back, i commented to him how really cheaper the foundations in here are. Standing in front of the Chanel ones (my dream foundations are Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, Dior Forever and NARS Sheer Glow), i told him these would cost maybe around RM 145-160 in Malaysia, and it's only RM 120-130 here (it was 31.50 EUR, duty-free).

Then Shah said a very surprising thing, "So get one here then." Like oh-so-nonchalantly.

The thing is, Shah now much prefers to buy me clothes rather than makeup. Basically, he can't get away with not buying me anything, so it's either clothes or makeup. And sometimes shoes and handbags too. But he grumbles a little when i try to buy makeup stuff. So for him to generously offer to buy me such an extravagant foundation totally spooked me. I've been trying to get him to buy me NARS Sheer Glow forever unsuccessfully (it isn't available in Malaysia OKKK), so i was thrown off. I was like, "Uh, what? No, it's OK, it's really expensive" while edging away, but he went "Just pick one!!!".

Then he needed to go to the men's room, so i was left on my own, puzzled. OK, so, yeh, maybe just see if my shade is available. I always turn to Google when i need help buying a foundation, because finding the perfect shade is tricky with me. But with no Internet, i had to rely on common sense (which had failed me many times). I started testing out some colours—shades 40, 44, 50 and 52—but i was confused as they're quite similar to each other, just with different tones. One nice woman who works there came over and tried to help me out, but i still wasn't so sure. I wasn't going to pick the wrong shade and have Shah paid for it for nothing. Then Shah came back and with the four shades smeared on my hand, i looked to him for help.

Then Shah did this heroic thing; he pointed to shade 44 and said, "That's more yellow than the rest. I think that's your colour." Since the woman earlier picked out the same shade, i thought OK, this is the safest choice.

And you know, after trying it out a few times on my trip, it actually IS my colour. And i'm excited!

I did ask Shah, "Do you even know that most foundations are either yellow or pink based? And i have yellow undertone?". He looked confused, and just went, "Um, no...really? I dunno, that one just look yellow. OK then."

This is why i married Shah. He knows stuff he doesn't even know he knows.

OK, i did tell that story with a flourish, because it's a happy story for me.

Moving on!

I got two more amazing things on the plane, courtesy of Shah's generosity as well. He was looking at the duty-free shopping magazine on board and pointed to something in it. "Isn't this the palette you wanted?" It was Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. Priced at 30 pounds, but with a 20% off discount, we could get it for 24 pounds (note: many apologies, i had initially put the currency as euros instead of pounds. i've changed it now, sorry for the confusion!). Convert to Malaysian Ringgit and it becomes approximately RM 120. And those Sephora-goers in Malaysia know how much this palette costs there, right? It costs the same amount in Sephora here as well. Shah and i did the math and he immediately decided to snap it up. Can't blame him, since he gets to save himself about RM 60 (i think?) in the future!

Urban Decay Naked 2 palette comes with a tiny lip gloss and a double-ended brush. I haven't tried out the brush, but it does look useful.

I decided to get this gimmicky product as well!

Only because it's super cute. So, yeh. This was 10 pounds by the way.

This has been a fairly long post in my opinion, and i still have loads to share! We hadn't even landed in Manchester! I think i'll have to do a second part of this post. Will try to make that one shorter. Coming up soon!

xxoo

written by:
Liyana Aris

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